First Aid Kit – The Big Black And The Blue (Witchita)

These girls are young, Swedish and are obviously totally cool and and into ace stuff. They sing in English (they write their songs in English) and must be dead brainy as their sweet, poetic lyrics are like little pictures, little scenes. Pretty damn clever clogs in my book.

But… I just… Well… This might be an “it’s not you, it’s me” moment. It’s sort of cute and sort of good but to my ears it’s just not that beautiful. Proficient but not beautiful. Like a child playing a recorder I think “Ah, very good. Please stop now.” You know when a sound sort of hurts your teeth a bit because it’s trying too hard to Be In Your Head Please? Listen to Josefin to see what I’m getting at.

Perhaps I’m being mean because I’ve just completed my tax return and forgot to save any money to pay it. Oh, who am I kidding? Tax or no tax it’s just not quite my cup of tea. I’m not into their voices, though I recognise that some people will say that their vocals are strong, demanding of attention and forthright. Yeah, I rather like those qualities but in this case I don’t much love the sound that comes forth from them.

I can imagine Will of the River being some background music in an American Indie flick where attractive young people cycle to a nearby body of water on a hazy summer day. Middle-class couples in the cinema will smile with faraway looks in their eyes and squeeze one another’s hands. This is the vision that their music evokes. It’s not offensive but it’s not very inspiring.

Also…”We aim for the hearts, not the charts,” says their myspace page. Heeuuurgh. (That’s not Swedish, it’s me pretending to vomit.)

These girls could probably be really ace, given time. Maybe their voices need to mature a bit, maybe they need to chill out a bit and not try so hard. Maybe I need to not be such a picky bitch.

http://www.myspace.com/thisisfirstaidkit

Joy Thomas